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ZORO VS LOKI – THE FINAL STEP BEFORE FACING MIHAWK!!! ONE PIECE CHAPTER 1136 FULL SPOILERS!!

Zoro vs Loki, an unexpected matchup but this will prove to be the biggest showdown outside of the inevitable Luffy vs Shanks duel of the Elbaph arc.

one piece 1136 loki vs zoro
ONE PIECE © 1997 by Eiichiro Oda/SHUEISHA Inc.

In the previous One Piece chapter, we see the Holy Knights, the woman and Shanks’ twin, take down some Giants as they look for Loki.

One Piece Chapter 1136 is titled, “The Country that Awaits the Sun.”

This chapter has 17 pages

We enter Volume 22 of “Ogre Child Yamato’s Golden Harvest Surrogate Pilgrimage” where Yamato forces Holdem to lead Yamato and Tama (riding on Speed) to his secret base.

Interestingly, the roof of the base is shaped like the head of Who’s Who.

Sun God Mythology Revealed 

The chapter begins where we ended off, this time with Jarul joining the party while Luffy eats the moose meat.

Jarul reveals that Elbaph is not completely closed-off on purpose but that they mostly end up on the lowest level, the Underworld, and flee, thinking that scary place is Elbaph.

Barely any human really enters the Sun World for this reason.

The Straw Hats, minus Robin, Chopper, and Franky, are enjoying themselves in the party, with the Giants being particularly interested in Jinbe and Brook since they have never met other races before

Usopp talks about their adventures, like the defeat of the zombified Oars in the Thriller Bark Arc.

The Giants mention how Oars is a legendary fierce warrior among the Giants.

Meanwhile, Road is forced by Gerd to apologize for his mistakes but Road enjoys this.

This might be quite concerning because it seems that Road’s crimes might be underplayed or played for laughs, instead of a big character moment, but this could be proven wrong.

Keep in mind that Road turns humans into toys, like how Sugar did for Doflamingo, except without any Devil Fruit trickery.

Zoro remarks that he would have cut off Road’s head without Usopp stopping him.

Road then brings up something interesting, that every Giant’s dream is to “become the Sun God” and rule the world.

Become the Sun God. This is quite important.

The Giants start bickering among themselves because there is a disagreement over what the Sun God actually is.

Some say he is the God of Liberation, others say he is the God of Destruction but one Giant remarks that he is the God that Laughs.

This is really nice lore writing here and slightly meta commentary.

Due to Luffy’s sense of freedom and involvement in liberating kingdoms from oppressive villains, many fans view Luffy, in light of awakening Gear 5, as the Sun God of Liberation.

Loki views himself as the God of Destruction, much like how Shyarly prophesied that Luffy would destroy Fishman Island, even though what ended up during the arc was the destruction of Noah, which was sent by Vander Decken XIII to destroy Fishman Island.

But it is clear through that one Giant that Oda is telling us that Luffy’s concept of freedom, his being, is more tied to the God that Laughs, the God of Joy. Joy Boy.

Something similar can be seen with more recent Christian discourses of God and Christianity as being centered on joy and not just social order or serious obligation.

Jarul explains the Origin of the Sun God is from the story of Halley or Harley, since this is written in Japanese.

The myth is written in a forgotten language, resulting in many interpretations.

In the myth, it is said that the world has already been destroyed twice.

This is quite specific because it ties into both the history of Elbaph and the history of the world.

Centuries ago, Elbaph was destroyed until only Treasure Tree Adam remained and the giants rebuilt. 

Perhaps Elbaph was destroyed twice by all those wars, with the second time leading to the creation of Warland Kingdom, a more aggressive Giant regime.

In the world itself, we learn of the Ancient Kingdom and its war with the World Government and from Vegapunk, we learn that the world itself is about to sink as sea levels rise.

This means that the world might have already been flooded, which explains Wano being isolated as they built massive walls and the island floating above sea level.

Fishman Island could even be a remnant of that lost world or at least less isolated.

As Jarul speaks, we see the same figure of Nika as the one featured when Who’s Who mentioned Nika for the first time in the entire series in Chapter 1018: “Jinbe vs. Who’s-Who”.

However, this silhouette would have more details, so we finally have a colored version of Nika.

Sun God Nika had long, curly white hair and white clouds floating around his neck.

Already, we see how Luffy’s Gear 5 form resembles Nika.

Nika in ancient times also wore a loincloth and held a sword and shield.

Whether Nika is a hero to stop the world from falling apart or a destroyer who brings disasters, what is certain is that he always appears when the world is experiencing significant change.

This is why those in power, such as the World Government, fear Nika.

What if the Heavenly World of Elbaph is also afraid of Nika, hence Loki’s imprisonment?

Perhaps we might see more truth to the idea of Loki as Nika the Destroyer.

These lines are also quite in-line with how much Eiichiro Oda has set up his concept for the laughing God Nika through Luffy’s journey.

Luffy does not want to be the hero for the simple reason that he does not share his meat or spoils.

Heroes also have obligations and people who will follow them, which holds back Luffy (it cramps up his style, as he says to the Straw Hat Grand Fleet).

However, Luffy’s involvement did bring about much destruction, which Fishman Island keeps bringing up.

This also is from Luffy’s overall chaotic nature due to his inability to hold back.

Regardless, what is fully true about Luffy is that his being, and that of Gear 5, emerge when the world is greatly changing.

Vegapunk just revealed one key secret of the Void Century: the world is sinking.

This was after Luffy awakened Gear 5 and during the Egghead Island arc, we learn that Devil Fruits are the products of people’s dreams, at least as a solid, mostly true or proven theory.

Nika follows the idea of humans creating their own superheroes after reading comics.

Nika is a God who has yet to come, a Messiah of human creation.

What is interesting is that although the origin point of godhood for the One Piece world seems to be within humans and their dreams, a light version of Berserk’s cosmology, humans cannot really “intend” this development, so they pray and hope and all the years of suffering and patience will let fate walk among them in the form of a God.

Luffy appeared at the right time.

After all, Roger did say that they were “too early” to find the One Piece.

Indeed, Nika comforts the oppressed and discomforts the oppressor.

You can control a liberator with societal obligation and a destroyer with individual outrage but a God who laughs is beyond anyone’s control or logic.

Luffy now knows what Bonney was talking about.

Dorry mentions how everyone who seeks hope look to him without exception.

He describes to Luffy how Nika is a figure dressed in pure white and shrouded by white clouds, all the while thunderous laughter follows him with every appearance.

Almost like Dorry wants Luffy to know that Luffy might be him.

Luffy does acknowledge the resemblance but he says that he has nothing to do with that god.

Classic Luffy. Never change.

Side note, Oda did draw an early design for Gear 5 that did make Luffy look more evil.

Loki Might Not Be the Bad Guy

Jarul mentions how the myth of Sun God Nika might have been the cause of Loki’s downfall and the death of King Harald, because both tried to become Sun God Nika themselves.

Luffy asks if Loki is a good person but the Giants are in utter shock, saying that he is not and they go on to explain all the pranks and chaos Loki caused in the past. 

Keep in mind that in Norse myth, Loki is indeed a prankster but he acted more like a scapegoat for all the evil things committed by the Aesir and Odin himself, who shares similar abilities with Loki.

The Giants mention that King Harald received a prophecy about being “killed a by son” even before Loki’s birth.

Much like the Norse and their myths, they take seers seriously.

We see more ties to Fishman Island, at least with Shyarly.

By the way, Hajrudin is Harald’s son too.

Maybe he is the real killer or prophecies are BS.

Shortly after his birth, Loki killed the “lucky horse” of the Royal Family and in that same year, Charlotte Linlin killed the legendary great warrior elder Jorul in her hunger rampage as a child.

Natural disasters rained upon this country one after another. 

Loki’s mother, the Queen, passed away a year after his birth.

At age 10, Loki made the Underworld his playground of wild beasts, which he unleashed upon the village

Whenever King Harald was not around, Loki would set fires and destroy everything in sight as part of his “pranks”, which have endangered lives, all because Loki had the authority of a Prince.

Jarul continues and says he got a sword in his head from trying to stop Loki from killing his father. 

So, apparently, the sudden appearance change for Jarul was because this was a wound sustained long after Big Mom left Elbaph.

Perhaps Jarul arrived either before or after Loki killed Harald and considering his age, we might wonder if he remembered everything correctly.

A sword on the head can easily represent how fuzzy those memories are.

Then, after killing King Harald, Loki went out to sea to cause chaos, to live out his newfound freedom.

But he was captured by Shanks 6 years ago and returned to Elbaph. 

This does confirm the idea that Shanks was responsible for bringing Loki to Elbaph and from our end, we have explained how that could be the reason for Shanks becoming a Yonko or at least part of it.

One Piece: How Did Shanks Become a Yonko?

The Giant Warriors would then unite forces to restrain Loki to Treasure Tree Adam with Seastone Prism Chains.

Luffy is particularly excited to hear Shanks’ name. 

Zoro and Loki

Zoro notices that Luffy is acting weird, having known him intimately for a long time since the start of the Straw Hats forming as a crew, so the two have a private talk on the outskirts of the village.

Zoro found Luffy’s positivity unusual since Loki is a king slayer that the entire country hates so Loki should not be trusted.

Luffy insists innocently that Loki knows where Shanks is, emphasizing on his desire to see Shanks.

Zoro reminds Luffy that his innocence is very easily exploited.

This makes Luffy angry as the idea of Loki lying to him is offensive and he intends to beat up Loki if he was lying.

However, Zoro remarks that it is impossible to know the truth for sure unless they see him.

Zoro’s suspicions over Loki might spark an interesting dynamic between the two.

Once again, this seems to reinforce our idea in ABD about how Loki and Zoro parallel each other quite well

One Piece: Loki IS NOT The Villain

If they would have a fight or a friendly dynamic, we might see more of Oda’s writing magic here.

Nami catches the two talking and warns them that they will get lost without her help.

Zoro tells Luffy that he and Nami will get the key to Loki’s chains but before they free Loki, they will need to verify what exactly Look is up to.

Luffy then asks why Road is here.

They are actually travelling in a “Svarr” boat, with Road rowing it for them. 

Nami electrocutes Road to push him to keep rowing but it seems that Road enjoys serving Nami, saying it is an honor as a fellow navigator.

Zeus reminds Road of his place, with Zeus as Nami’s number one servant and Sanji at number two.

However, Nami reminds Road not to get too close to her.

Good.

Nami does go along with Luffy and Zoro’s antics as they head for the castle (the one where the Holy Knights came in) to get Loki’s key.

Her true goal, as per Nami standard, is to find the treasure in it.

Loki Is Recruited to Join the Holy Knights

We return to the Underworld where the two hooded figures finally meet Loki and ask him to join God’s Knights.

Loki laughs, refusing the offer because he does not want to be scum.

Scum is what most people call the Celestial Dragons, especially Monkey D. Garp of all people.

He then asks if the two of them are Celestial Dragons but they do not respond.

The Holy Knight Shanks speaks for the first time since his introduction in Chapter 907: “The Empty Throne” and he asks the hooded woman about any information they have on Loki but the woman reveals that all their agents were killed by a giant Crow.

Maybe Muginn, Road’s pet did it? And that these agents did not die but instead became Road’s slaves?

As a result of this lack of intelligence, the Holy Knights do not know of Loki’s weaknesses.

This is interesting because it means that Hooded Shanks is indeed NOT our Shanks as the original one fought Loki and might have witnessed his Devil Fruit.

Although this is a strong point in favor of the idea that this is Shanks’ twin, we are still left in the dark over his identity since it could also be possible that Shanks never had the chance to see Loki’s full powers before subduing him.

We learn that the female is named Gunko and that she is a Holy Knight.

Gunko means “army child”, which could signify her being an orphan and maybe not a member of the World Noble bloodline, or that some World Nobles are trained for one reason or another to enforce divine law as God’s Knights.

By removing her cloak, she reveals her full design that was hidden behind her cloak.

Gunko wears a cap with goggles (similar to Koala’s cap), a blazer with very long sleeves and a pair of boots.

We can see her right eye too, with a white pupil and a black sclera all around.

Her arms and legs are wrapped in bandages .

Gunko transforms the sleeves of her blazer into long bandages in arrow form that she can move freely.

We do not see any name reveal for Hooded “Shanks”.

Gunko remarks that Loki is only showing how much he lacks manners, so she intends to “erase” Loki.

Erasure, that again. A term used by the Gorosei.

Hooded “Shanks” tells his partner not to be too hasty and indeed, he is right as a giant wolf appears from behind them.

Loki orders the wolf to eat the woman.

However, Gunko uses her bandages to strangle the giant wolf by the neck, much to Loki’s concern, and leave it suspended in mid-air, showing how physically strong Gunko is, as well as the unique advantages of Holy Knight technology, it seems.

Hooded Shanks asks if Loki will change his mind and join the Holy Knights if he spares the giant wolf.

However, Loki defies this “Shanks” and tells the wolf, as a friend, that true warriors do not complain about death and that when the wolf does die, Loki intends to channel this fury to destroy the world.

It seems that Loki does not recognize this figure’s voice and considering that Loki is blindfolded, he would be able to tell what he looked like.

Luffy and Zoro against the Holy Knights and possibly either Luffy or Zoro against Loki.

We are quite early into the arc and we are seeing so many possible matchups.

There will be NO BREAK next week.

One Piece Chapter 1137 will be released on January 26, 2025.

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